Cuantificación del contenido de carbono orgánico del suelo, densidad aparente y pH, bajo dos estratos arbóreos del área protegida “Esteros y Algarrobales del Río Uruguay”

The increase in greenhouse gases due to the burning of fossil fuels and changes in land use has triggered climate change, seriously impacting ecosystems, biodiversity and human life. In this context, forest soils play a fundamental role due to their capacity to capture carbon from the atmosphere through plant biomass and soil organic matter (SOM). Forest cover not only increases the availability of biomass, but also contributes significantly to the storage of soil organic carbon (SOC).

Changes in land use and cover, such as deforestation and forest degradation, can increase the mineralization of SOM, releasing large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Protected areas allow the conservation of forest cover and its capacity to store carbon, thus reducing its emissions.

The main objective of this work was to quantify the SOC stock of a protected area. Specifically, the variation in SOC was evaluated in two contrasting types of forest cover: one with a high density of trees on soils without high levels of exchangeable sodium, and another with a low density on halomorphic soils. For this purpose, soil samples were taken, and bulk density and pH were also measured. From the results obtained, it can be established that the dense stratum on Brunosol shows a higher SOC compared to the sparse stratum on a Solonetz soil, highlighting the indirect influence of soil characteristics on SOC. In both strata, SOC decreases with depth, being higher in the dense stratum on Brunosol due to soil characteristics and Na content. The sparse stratum on a Solonetz showed greater compaction due to the effect of sodium content. The sparse stratum, with a higher pH, shows a positive relationship with the frequency of the Neltuma and Vachellia species.